With Fall 2016 coming to a close, you know what time it is? Marathon time! When you realise you forgot to watch loads of great stuff last season and so you pick some shows and watch them all in one go. This time we're going to look at which great sports ecchi anime you may have missed out on from Fall 2016, and why you should be watching them now! More importantly, we're focusing on pro-wrestling ecchi series Sekai de Ichiban Tsuyoku Naritai, a show within the small but growing ecchi sports genre, and compare it to some of this past season's offerings.

About Sekai de Ichiban Tsuyoku Naritai (Wanna Be the Strongest in the World)

One of the top idol groups in Japan, Sweet Diva's girls are often expected to attend events and make strange and entertaining TV appearances to promote themselves. Lead members Hagiwara Sakura and Miyazawa Elena have taken a bullet for the rest of the group by agreeing to appear in a pro-wrestling segment for a television show, thinking that the wrestlers they meet will go easy on them because they're idols.

So when Elena gets destroyed in the ring, they're both pretty surprised, to say the least, with the pro-wrestler reminding them of how weak they are as mere idols. Unable to take this insult to her friend, and an insult to idols everywhere, Sakura vows to become a pro-wrestler herself and prove that idols are not to be underestimated.

Like Sekai de Ichiban Tsuyoku Naritai? Watch Keijo!!!!!!!!

Keijo!!!!!!!!, the incredible imaginary sport that combines busty girls in swimsuits with gambling. The idea of the game: knock your opponent off the island with either your boobs or your butt, which is actually a lot harder than it sounds. Nozomi Kaminashi is a budding Keijo!!!!!!!! player who's just entered the Setouchi Keijo!!!!!!!! Training School hoping to become a professional. But on the road to glory, she will face many hardships, and only those with the firmest of butts and complete chest control can rise to the top. Will Nozomi and her friends make it through training and onto the professional circuit, or will they sink into watery depths of average-dom?

Three Major Similarities Between Sekai de Ichiban Tsuyoku Naritai and Keijo!!!!!!!!

1. It's Violent (Question Mark?)

Okay, neither of these series are bloody or gory, but they sure as hell are violent for sports series. Both shows capitalise on the battles between girls for their ecchi content, with Sekai de Ichiban Tsuyoku Naritai using the compromising positions the girls get into for visuals, as well as the screams and moans that they let out. Keijo!!!!!!!!'s fights are more about watching the girls flinging their breasts about and asses in the air, as they clash in battles of bounciness too fast for the human eye to follow. These are both series that a fan of fighting girls can appreciate, whether it's for the battles themselves, or the ecchi content they provide.

2. Size Matters

Bigger isn't always better, but Sekai de Ichiban Tsuyoku Naritai and Keijo!!!!!!!! would both have to disagree. If you like lolis and flat chests then neither of these are the show for you, with the casts all having seriously impressive chests, or at the very least an ass to be proud of. This of course comes coupled with outfits designed to show off such notable assets, with Sekai de Ichiban Tsuyoku Naritai perhaps being more creative due to the wrestling theme of the series, but Keijo!!!!!!!!'s swimsuits also offering a fantastic view, with both one-piece swimsuits and some very sexy bikinis featured. These are definitely shows for those of you who prefer a fuller figure.

3. This is Getting Ridiculous

We're used to seeing sports anime feature more ordinary sports: basketball, volleyball, baseball, but Sekai de Ichiban Tsuyoku Naritai and Keijo!!!!!!!! both transcend these normal sports and go into the realms of the ridiculous. Sekai de Ichiban Tsuyoku Naritai's pro-wrestling is not only unusually erotic, but the whole premise is bizarre, with a top idol being the main heroine, who is certainly not suited to serious wrestling of any sort, along with many over the top situations and characters. Keijo!!!!!!!! takes this to a whole new level, with the sport itself being utterly ridiculous, on top of special moves and exaggerated fight scenes. Sekai de Ichiban Tsuyoku Naritai and Keijo!!!!!!!! are excellent if you like exaggerated and over the top situations.

The world of middle school girl's ping pong received a big shock when reigning champions Oudou Academy were recently destroyed at this year's nationals, giving other schools hope for the next competition. One such school is Suzumegahara Middle School which has a few pretty good players of its own, including one Agari Kamiya who currently holds the top spot in the ping pong club. Things receive a bit of an upset though when new transfer student Tsumujikaze Koyori shows up at school, who despite being a shy air-head, has a passion for ping pong that cannot be matched, and who swiftly claims the number one spot for herself. Club dynamics aside though it's looking like Suzumegahara may stand a chance at nationals this time around.

Three Major Similarities Between Sekai de Ichiban Tsuyoku Naritai and Shakunetsu no Takkyuu Musume

1. Sports is Serious Business

Both Sekai de Ichiban Tsuyoku Naritai and Shakunetsu no Takkyuu Musume try to focus so much on their sporting action, that the ecchi content is almost a side dish to it. Sekai de Ichiban Tsuyoku Naritai is much more obviously ecchi, with it's revealing outfits and 'noisy' girls, but the action remains pretty intense, and bar the nice angles, the series remains focused on the wrestling itself. The same goes for Shakunetsu no Takkyuu Musume, which while having some of the sweatiest, most out of breath girls of the year as characters, keeps the crazy ping pong battles as the focus, as well as the competition between the girls. We appreciate ecchi and fanservice series that try to keep the plot alive.

2. I Wanna Be The Very Best

To be fair, this is something a lot of sports series (or shounen series) have in common: that the protagonist wants to be the number one. So as expected this is true for both of these series as well, with Sakura wanting to become the number one pro-wrestler, or more importantly beat her rival, and with Agari wanting to be the best ping pong player in her club and win at nationals. The more important thing, though, is how the characters develop around their goals, and how they learn to not just want to be number one, but how to enjoy the sport they're playing. While Sakura comes to this realisation through the trials she's put through at the start of her pro career, Agari is shown the joys of ping pong by Koyori and her incredible enthusiasm for the sport.

3. Headphones Required

So they got the audio down for these shows, and yes headphones are required, or at least heavily recommended. Sekai de Ichiban Tsuyoku Naritai is all about the screaming, which whether you loved it or hated it, is one of the key selling points of the series, with Sakura spending a lot of time in some pretty painful looking holds. Shakunetsu no Takkyuu Musume is filled with embarrassing sounds of its own, however, this time they're of a more pleasurable kind, with the girl's finding a game of ping pong a lot more 'enjoyable' than you would think possible. Whichever style you prefer, if you're an audio person, these moans and cries should hopefully be enough to satisfy you.

Final Thoughts

Sports ecchi series are still fairly rare, so it's surprising to have two appear in one season. It's nice to see two which focus on quite different areas as well, with Keijo!!!!!!!! being big boobs and butts ecchi, and Shakunetsu no Takkyuu Musume more filled with cute girls, fanservice, and sweat. Overall we'd definitely recommend Keijo!!!!!!!! to anyone who likes the ridiculous fights you get in shounen series or stuff like Shokugeki no Souma, as well as anyone who likes a constant ecchi bombardment. Shakunetsu no Takkyuu Musume, on the other hand, is great if you like moe and fanservice as a side to you sports like you might find in basketball series Ro-Kyu-Bu.

So have we convinced you to pick up Keijo!!!!!!!! or Shakunetsu no Takkyuu Musume yet? If so which are you looking forward to most? Or which have you watched already? Let us know in the comments below!

Writer

Author: Kristian

British guy doing student things in Tokyo. Slice-of-life and moe anime are my speciality, though I think something good can be found in almost every show. Outside of anime I spend most of my time feeding on DotA 2 or studying Japanese in a quest to one day watch cute girls without subtitles.